Czech Minister of Energy, jozef sikelacame Exceptional energy gathering met this Tuesday to try to reach an agreement on ceiling price gaswhich will be implemented without overconfidence in the event of exorbitant price increases like last summer. “If there’s no deal, we still have December 19,” he said, resigning to the appointment scheduled ahead of time on the calendar for next Monday. That’s what Twenty-Seven should do, if leaders European Union This Thursday’s summit of heads of state and government managed to hit a stalemate, as this Tuesday’s venture has come to an end again without agreement after more than nine hours of negotiations.
“It’s been a long and difficult meeting. I was hoping to open a bottle of champagne to celebrate the deal, but apparently we still have to keep the bottles in the fridge because they haven’t cooled enough yet,” Síkela said. physical appereance. Square a circle on a ceiling that will satisfy 15 countries that have insisted on it for months. Spain, France, Italy, Poland or Greeceand those who think that this could cause supply problems and divert gas to third countries, for example Germany, the Netherlands or Austria, not easy. Since last July, energy ministers have held a total of nine meetings, including extraordinary ones and scheduled meetings on the calendar; Ukraine – They failed to bring up the sensitive and controversial issue of capping the gas price.
After months of dragging its feet, the European Commission submitted its corrective mechanism proposal three weeks ago. The plan sets a cap on the gas price for one-month contracts, which will come into effect if the TTF index of 275 euros per megawatt hour is exceeded for two consecutive weeks. Based on the global liquefied natural gas price over a 10-day period. The proposal was definitively rejected by the majority of countries. They branded it “impractical” and “ineffective” and even a “bad joke” by the third vice president, Teresa Ribera.
A new commitment at the final negotiating table stipulated that the mechanism would be activated if the range of 200 to 220 euros per megawatt hour was exceeded within 3 to 5 days and prices exceeded at least 35 euros. international price. According to this proposal, the mechanism will be implemented for at least 20 days, but there will also be assurances that the application will be disabled in case of supply problems. An approach between the “unacceptable” offer from Brussels and the 160 euros demanded by Greece, Poland and other countries.
The proposal proved insufficient for Spain and other delegations and too generous for others, despite the efforts of the Czech presidency, and as it hit seven in the evening Twenty-seven failures were documented, paralyzing the ratification of the other two files. where there is a political agreement: regulation of joint gas purchases and gas, which will serve to accelerate the authorization of renewable energy sources of particular interest to the Netherlands, both of which continue to resist the idea of a cap. “This is a complex exercise and there are still lots of positions. It’s about price thresholds we need to talk about and that’s what we hope we can figure out next week, but that wasn’t possible today”, summed up the third vice president, Teresa Ribera. According to his Czech colleague, Síkela will have to settle one question in the negotiations next Monday: “at what price level the mechanism is activated” to ensure that the situation in August, when prices soared, does not repeat itself. It’s almost time, but we must show that unity is not empty talk,” he warned.